Australians against Violence in PNG

FAMILY and sexual violence is a symptom and a cause of gender inequality, Australia’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea Deborah Stokes says.

Speaking during a family and sexual violence conference in Port Moresby, Stokes said support for gender equality was a feature of Australia’s aid programme in the country.

“Australia is helping to establish family and sexual violence (FSV) units in police stations in many places around the country to provide a safe environment for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence to report offences,” Stokes said

“In the office of the public prosecutor, Australia has helped to establish the FSV offences unit to effectively address FSV prosecutions and provide better support for survivors through the court process.”

She said that at the community level, Australia supported small scale civil society, faith-based and volunteer groups across the country to prevent and respond to violence in the local context.

“Our core funding for the consultative implementation and monitoring council’s (CIMC) family and sexual violence action committee helps to build networks between women’s organisations, promote services for survivors of violence and train more than 1,100 people on addressing gender-based violence.”

Australia funds with the United Nations a prevalence study to establish the level and nature of violence against women.

“I hope this study will help all of us to better target our programmes in the future.”

Australia is supporting the expansion of the UN Safe Cities programme in three markets in Port Moresby. The National